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OK - let's talk about III. Most people say it's the worst of the VH albums. It's different, and if I had to rate it I can't really say that there is another album that I would put below it, but it has some good material nonetheless. What do you think are the good tunes off of III? What tunes would have been great had they been sung by Dave or Sammy ? What do you think ?

i actually dont think this was their worst album.
or i should say, this isnt the least listened to album for me. believe it or not, that would be "fuck", although in the drought, i've learned to appreciate it more.
i like vh3. it's not great, but it's got great guitar. i honestly think two things, and two things only, sunk that album from the get-go. actually 3 things. and it is incomprehensible that they would release it this way:
1. when they released the single, and they get to the part where it sounds like a bunch of wasted 3rd graders trying to harmonize on acid, we all went "what the hell was that crap?" i simply cannot listen to that [part of the] song. in fact, i made a re-recording for myself and edited out those parts--and the song now kicks ass! that was a fatal mistake that actually shocked me. it was very uncharacteristic of the band.it ruins the song completely, and since it's the single, it gave us all a bad taste.
2. the vocal tracks with gary actually sound muffled-like there was a mistake made in the higher frequencies..did anyone else notice this?
instead of crisp sounding "s", you hear "th". i'm sure he has a lisp, but the mixing on the vocals is terrible. so if you bought the disc, despite the botched single, then you find yourself wondering what the hell is wrong with gary's vocals instead of just enjoying.fatal flaw.
3. the lack of mike's high pitched harmonies. i know they were trying something new, but if you get past points 1 and 2, you discover how flat they sound w/o mikey in the harmonies. nail in coffin.w/o points one and 2, this might not be so bad in this case, but with those points, it's cumulative and is the final nail.

believe me, i've listened to it 1,000 times because i love the music, but there is something missing from the album and,to be honest, the single is so fucked up, i skip it.

but if you just listen to the music, it's vh, and that's always great!

I totally love the album. Some of the best guitar work out of Ed since '78s debut release. It lacked in my opinion the energy the other albums had. Maybe it was that VH was trying something new, but either way it was a good shot and a follow-up would of been pretty cool.

"From Afar" and "Year To The Day" are my favorites. I think "From Afar", musically, picks up where "Don't Tell Me" left off. The guitar work on YTTD is fantastic and Gary's voice actually gets the feeling across.

i would like to hear dave sing 'dirty water dog.' 'one i want,' tho not my favorite, has a sammy vibe through the lyrics. i think sammy could do a great job on 'ballot or the bullet.'

i love 'that's why i love you.' could've been a great hit for VH, and taken the album to another level (hypothetically ) neworld/ without you is one of my favorite VH tunes. i think the off kilter harmonies give it that disturbed AIC edge, although mikey was missing for too many songs.

year to the day, josephine, are solid tunes that mark new ground for VH. i love them like right now, or in a simple ryhme.

3 wasn't their best album, but not their worst either. they should have gone ahead with the follow-up, but things fell apart. that's a shame.
i would rather have a healthy VH w/ gary today, then the possibility of a reunion with dave or sam.

I guess I am in the minority here, I dont have any that I would categorize as good. I will say that there are some good musical parts in some of the songs. It lacks so much though; the production is terrible, no bass sound, no harmonies from Anthony, was he even there ? Vocals sound terrible, and I know Cherone can sing better than that.

IMO, the release needed some input from other folks. Sounds too much like an EDVH solo release. Dont get me wrong, I like Ed's music, but as a producer, he has failed us on this one.

Musically, I agree that Dirty Water Dog and From Afar are great guitar songs - but on the whole, I think they are aweful. I can't even understand what Gary is saying, and when I can he sounds like he's straining.

I really enjoy Without You, Year to the Day, and Josephina.

I think that Fire in the Hole could have been a true VH classic, had it been sung by Hagar.

I would also like to hear some of these songs sung by DLR - such as One I Want. That had potential - but again - weak vocals.

The music that I really want to hear are the three songs that they recorded with Dave in 2000 or 2001. I would love to get my hands on those.

And - I love Diver Down - how can you put that at the bottom !! Two of the best - "Where Have All the Good Times Gone" and "Little Guitars.". [img]graemlins/bounce.gif[/img]

I realize that these two things are not minor, but with the songs in a key that didn't kill Gary and with a good overall sound, I would have LOVED III. I hear people complain about how the songs were unfocused, but being ignorant of musical theory and structure, that means nothing to me. The songs, generally speaking, are great in my mind.

But almost every song is dragged WAY down by the fact that Gary sounds like he's killing himself to try to sing along. Gary has always had somewhat of a strained style, and continues to have that style now. But it was made to sound great in Extreme, and from what I've heard, it works fairly well in Tribe of Judah now. III is, by far, the worst he's ever sounded, and I think that's the fault of the material being played too far out of his range. I can't believe that with a whole band and team of studio people, somebody didn't stand up and say something about this.

And sonically, the album is a mess. Coming off a record where they got the sound SO right (Balance), it's really disappointing that they missed the mark so badly on their next project.

My favorite song on the album is Year To the Day, which is one where Gary's straining works to the benefit of the song. Sadly, that's pretty rare on the album. I like it, but it could have been great!

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